Brilliant doc. What i didn't understand was how it went from the federal case being dropped against him to somehow the anti-doping agency coming out with a 1000 page dossier against him. How did that come about?

There must have been times when the pressure of all of the lie must have been unbearable. I think he has some issues, but I don't subscribe to the psychopath story. There's an element to this that is Greek tragedy, and in lots of ways the story probably took on a life of its own, that he clearly could not stop by himself without doubt he cheated exceptionally in an era of exceptional cheating, but even as he is the architect of his own demise, it must take a toll.

Great documentary, I thought, though I've read enough of this story to know most of the background so none of it was a real surprise to me. However, I have to say the director missed an opportunity to allow the UCI to explain how they, somehow, managed not to obtain a positive drug test result, given he supposedly was tested ~500 times during his career...

But he was at the very pointy end of a long line of folk who's vested interest was to make sure he kept winning. At some points it must have been incredibly stressful and no wonder he's a bit **** up. I watched his whole life's worth being untied on telly by Oprah, and all the folk who once loved you now hate you. Hard bed to lie on even if you did make it yourself

What i didn't understand was how it went from the federal case being dropped against him to somehow the anti-doping agency coming out with a 1000 page dossier against him. How did that come about?

Made no sense to me, either - according to this link it was kind of just dropped - wiki'ing it, Andre Birotte Jr just says 'we dropped the case and his admission that he took drugs hasn't changed that decision' - no idea why it was dropped. That stinks, man, absolutely stinks.

However, I have to say the director missed an opportunity to allow the UCI to explain how they, somehow, managed not to obtain a positive drug test result, given he supposedly was tested ~500 times during his career...

Their sole UCI-related clip was McQuaid announcing his ban, IIRC, which I thought was very kind to the UCI.

The most despicable footage (out of a fair selection) was his attitude to the Times journalist, basically saying that to criticise him in any way meant that you'd rather kids died of cancer!

That bit was great TV wasn't it....... Also where Lance claimed that another journalist would need "extraordinary evidence" to back up claims of doping, just ordinary evidence wouldn't be enough for LA, the normal rules, he thought, just didn't apply him. nasty piece of work.

The backstory is that, at the time, the UCI drug testing process had so many holes in it that it was easy for the riders to circumvent. I guess that could be an entire documentary in itself, though not as compelling to the general public is the LA story...

Brilliant doc. What i didn't understand was how it went from the federal case being dropped against him to somehow the anti-doping agency coming out with a 1000 page dossier against him. How did that come about?

As above, nobody seems to know why the federal case was dropped although clearly some have their suspicions. As was briefly mentioned, and David Walsh's book deals with in a little more detail, Travis Tygart at USADA decided that he would continue investigating and re interview as necessary the people that had been interviewed for the federal case. Tygart was the gent interviewed near the end who admitted receiving anonymous threats including a death threat.

I have read Walsh's book but not seen the video of LA's testimony to the SCA case before. The sociopathic nature of his character came across much more from the video.